Safe Haven (Various)

A Kentucky blue blood, Ashleigh Scott would go to any length to protect her family's legacy-Wind Racer Farm. Then one of her horses went berserk, killing a jockey. A syndicated handicapper from the wrong side of the track, Doyle McCoy knew the darker side of racing. They followed a trail of clues that led to murder and revenge. In this horse race, their lives were at stake.Excerpt:Walking across the Keeneland paddock area, Doyle McCoy spotted Ashleigh Scott mincing her way across the paddock area in too-high yellow heels the exact shade of her too-wide-brimmed yellow straw hat.Doyle couldn't help himself. He stepped directly in front of her and grinned, his gaze fastening on the small mole below the left corner of her mouth. "Why, Ash, darlin', don't you look pretty as a picture."Her obliging smile was a mere shade away from feral. He knew she hated the nickname he'd given her as a kid-she was Ashleigh or Leigh, depending on which side of the racetrack was doing the calling. He also knew she'd prefer he drop off the face of the earth rather than call her anything at all."Why, Doyle McCoy, how nice to see you."Nice indicating he belonged in the earth with the rest of the worms. Any Kentucky woman worth her salt could sound like she was lavishing a man with compliments while grinding him under her dainty heel."I noticed Wind Racer has a couple of horses running today."Wind Racer Farm being the Scott legacy, which, as an only child, Leigh would someday inherit from her mother Vanessa."Yes, the Blue Grass Stakes is the highlight of the day, of course. But I do have a filly in this next race, and I wouldn't think of missing Dancing Dawn win."Her thick dark hair was pulled back from her fine features and gathered with a purple ribbon at the nape of her long, graceful neck that tempted a man's lips to assault of the very personal kind.Not his lips, though.When Doyle realized Leigh was staring at him openly, her thick-lashed eyes more brilliant than the Kentucky bluegrass, her guard relaxed for once, Doyle couldn't stop himself from spoiling the moment. "Hmm, I thought Lady Jane looked pretty good myself."Her jaw tightened but a smile remained attached to her lovely lips. "You always do make interesting choices when it comes to fillies.""Part of my job."Though Doyle knew she meant the human kind of filly, like his high school sweetheart who eloped with a traveling salesman two weeks before they were to graduate. Only thirteen at the time, Leigh had volunteered to be Betty's replacement. She hadn't taken kindly to his rebuff, no matter that he'd tried to let her down gently."Since you're so enamored of Lady Jane," Leigh was saying, "it's too bad you predicted Dancing Dawn would win in print, isn't it?"With that shot, she strolled off, her shiny waterfall of dark hair undulating down her back like a horse's tail. Doyle stared after her. So she read his column, did she? He wondered if she would ever have admitted to doing so if she hadn't been trying to best him.He and Ashleigh Scott had disrespected and disavowed each other for as long as Doyle could remember, starting sometime after he'd put an end to her romantic schoolgirl yearnings. The five year gap in their ages had made any relationship other than friendship a no-no, of course. But they would have made an inappropriate match for other reasons, as well. She'd been too young to understand or accept the class/money structure that placed them in two different worlds.

After J. D. Garrison broke her adolescent heart when he skippedtown years ago, Denver McCallahan's only link to country music's"brightest star" was the supermarket tabloids. But when her uncle Maxis murdered, J.D. comes waltzing back into her life-sweeping her offher feet and warning her away from his former best friend, Pete-who'dhelped Denver dry her teenage tears. Caught between the man who stoodby her and the one who broke her heart, Denver will have to find outwhich man she can trust…and which man is a killer. Previouslypublished.

From New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery comes a fan-favorite story that walks the fine line between love and danger. When a smuggler's prize lands on her doorstep, big-cat sanctuary owner Faith Newlin doesn't expect any problems not from the two white tiger cubsor the mysterious government agent sent to protect them. She knows better than to get attached, though sometimes an instinct is too strong to ignore. Agent Cort Hollenbeck has dedicated his life to fighting the good fight. He never gets too close, especially while on assignment. But when terrifying blanks in his memory force him to face his deepest fears, he must trust in a woman who walks on the wild side and captures his heart. Tempting Faith is part of a duet by Susan Mallery along with her book The Only Way Out.

All She Could See Were His Eyes. Though Graham Dufour's ebony eyes lit up her dreams for the past ten years, Lindsey Latham hoped she could come back to New Orleans without seeing the man who'd once stolen her heart. A lot had changed between them--but one touch from the bad-boy-made-good could still ignite her desire. Then she rode in a Mardi Gras parade and saw someone else's eyes behind a mask. Those of a faceless killer who'd used the masquerade to hide his crime. And he'd seen Lindsey. Once, she'd been forced to run from Graham; now she had no choice but to run straight into his arms. For passion and for protection

Who Was Emma Cassidy? That was what Detective Bruce Prentice had come to the Maine woods to find out. But the more he learned about her, the less he understood. All he knew was, those flights across the Canadian border in her private plane simply couldn't be innocent, and neither was his desire for this fascinating, mysterious woman. Emma wanted this secluded place to be a refuge from her troubled past, but trouble had found her even here. And she could no longer deny that it was linked to the disturbing stranger who had so suddenly come into her life, a man who made her wish there were no secrets between them.

RITA Award Winning Author "Are you my husband?" LADY IN THE DARK It was every woman's dream come true, waking up in an opulent bridal suite, a wedding ring on her finger and a magnificent male specimen by her side. But for Whitney Bradshaw it was more like a nightmare. She couldn't remember the wedding, or her new husband-;or even her own name...;. None of this made any sense, least of all the man she'd married. Zane Russell was as gentle and loving as any bride could ever hope for. And yet he always seemed to be keeping secrets from her...;. And the most disturbing secret of all was why he was fighting against the breathtaking passion that sizzled between them...;.

Shooting a bandit was reporter Hallie Wainwright's introduction to the Wild West, where she'd traveled with a bevy of mail-order brides. But it was the more intimate "hello" in the arms of Cooper DeWitt that sent her heart racing-and made it all the more difficult for her to tell the brawny plainsman that she wasn't the woman he'd sent for.... When she jumped from the stage, shining with true grit and spewing tall tales, Cooper DeWitt thought he just might have struck gold. Raised with the Sioux, Cooper needed a wife who could brave the frontier and corral his restless heart. The problem was, his would-be bride had no intention of marrying him!

A MAN IN THE SHADOWS Ex-CIA operative Grey Sellers had settled into a quiet, anonymous life. No secrets, no bullets, no nightmares...;just the way he wanted it. Until he was hired to protect reluctant heiress Valerie Beaufort from a killer. He'd sworn not to get emotionally attached to the assignment-;but Valerie was so much more than that...;. Valerie hadn't wanted a bodyguard, even one as sexy as Grey Sellers. But with him, Valerie finally felt like a woman-;a woman willing to let a man into her heart. Yet Grey's secrets were deep and his past even deeper. Would she discover the man he truly was-;before it was too late?